Backpacking, walking and wandering

TGO Challenge 2017, pt 2. (Drumnadrochit to the Cairngorms)

Day 4: Cannich to Ault-na-goire

Cannich campsite – flat pitch and great showers (in the toilet block not from the sky)Affric-Kintail Way to Drumnadrochit – a tedious route along a section of road and through forest. At least with the trees chopped down there was a viewAffric-Kintail Way. A view maybe, but the detritus left after the trees have been felled tempers what can be seenView across to the other side of the valley from the Affric-Kintail Way, because the trees have been chopped downNearing the end of the Affric-Kintail Way – not far above Drumnadrochit, with Loch Ness just visibleThe path turns off left into the trees above Drumnadrochit.Affric-Kintail Way – above DrumnadrochitTony, Mervyn, Rob Slade (thank-you Louise) and LeeCrossing Loch Ness was quite moody with the rain coming inRogues’ gallery: Tony Whewell and John Beckett.Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness just past DrumnadrochitUrquhart Castle on Loch Ness again but from further away, as you can probably work outLoch Ness – more dark and moodyQuayside! at Inverfarigaig, just as the rain set in. If the Loch Ness monster doesn’t get you, you could get impaled here instead

Day 5: Ault-na-goire to Glen Mazeran

Ault-na-goire in the morningMore logs piled up by the side of the road at DumnaglassSorry, Miss Jackson this is for reel: Sarah, 19, the youngest challenger and one of the Jackson Four, after filming me on Go-Pro. Pictures of me usually crack lensesDave – what a proper smile – and Sue in a five-star hunting lodge at NH654225Wind farm on the wide route I took over to Glen MazeranAbove the posh hunting lodge, which had been reached just as a torrential downpour started, so perfect timingHare today, gone in a flash: can you spot this fine beast sprinting away?The route up Allt Mor was dominated by gorse – and at one point laburnum too. A mile further on I smashed my right shin on a rock.Dried up bog at 700m – unrealHeading down Glen MazeranGlen Mazeran is a great spot, long and rangy like a supermodelThe wind was vicious but the views down the glen are excellentNear the bottom of Glen Mazeran – what the picture does not reveal is the powerful wind that was thundering down the valley. Just as strong at the bottom as it was at the topA pitch – after much adjustment – sheltered from the worst of a gale. Note the strange cloud formsWater, and damp bogs were few and far between in Glen Mazeran

Day 6: Glen Mazeran to Aviemore

Early sunshine after a frosty night in Glen Mazeran. An estate Land Rover had driven slowly past at 6.30am checking on the four tents – two of them red – discretely pitched by the trees and riverHeading for Glen Mazeran Lodge at about 7.45am – I missed the path that the estate asks walkers to take so as to avoid walking near the lodge, then bumped into the gamekeeper and had a good old chinwag with him and his numerous dogsGotcha: oyster catcher, on a long zoom. I’d never seen one beforeQuaint Dalarossie church, where the site dates to the 8th Century, by the River FindhornHeading for Cairn RuigheThe route to Carn DubhHeading for red bothy – bloody wind farmsHeading for red bothyHeading for red bothyHeading for red bothyHeading for red bothy – I was zapped by an electric fence shortly after taking this shotGreen hunting lodge on the way to red bothyAt last, Red bothy, where I met PeterThe long road to red bothy – with the Burma road barely visible on the left of the shotLone tree on the Burma road, walking on it is a case of once bitten, twice shyPaddy, Gill and JohnHeading down into Aviemore, shortly before bumping into Phil Lambert coming the other wayLate arrival at Coylumbridge campsite – after a bite to eat, a pint and a restock in downtown Aviemore. The rain is just about to throw it down, with the ground so dry the water runs off it